Protests rage for 8th consecutive day in TN

Students continued ground-level protests against Sri Lanka for the eighth consecutive day on Monday even as a Buddhist monk from the island nation was beaten up at the central railway station in Chennai and a youngster attempted self-immolation in Madurai.

Over 500 students were arrested in the capital for attempting to picket the governor’s residence while demanding action against Colombo for alleged war crimes against Sri Lankan Tamils.

Students from IIT Madras and Madras University too joined the protests. The Anna University closed all its colleges — more than 600 — across the state indefinitely.

Protests, fasts and boycott of classes were also reported from Coimbatore, Salem and Tirunelveli districts.

The police, meanwhile, launched a hunt to nab the people who assaulted the Buddhist monk, identified as Bandara, 33.

He was part of a group of Lankan pilgrims who arrived here en route to Colombo after visiting various holy sites.

On Saturday, a Buddhist priest from Lanka, pursuing archaeological studies in Delhi University, was roughed up by activists of pro-Tamil outfits at the Big Temple in Thanjavur.

The police arrested 12 people in connection with the assault.

Tamil Nadu has erupted in protests following the emergence of pictures of the alleged cold-blooded killing of slain LTTE chief V Prabakaran’s 12-year-old son Balachandran.

Even as TN parties pressure the Centre to act against Lanka, the student community is demanding an independent probe into alleged rights violations by Colombo.